Rowing at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's eight

Men's eight at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
Venue	Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park
Dates	August 11 Heats August 12 Repechage August 16 Final B August 17 Final A
Competitors	72 from 8 nations
Medalists
Canada Kevin Light, Ben Rutledge, Andrew Byrnes, Jake Wetzel, Malcolm Howard, Dominic Seiterle, Adam Kreek, Kyle Hamilton, Brian Price   Great Britain Alex Partridge, Tom Stallard, Tom Lucy, Richard Egington, Josh West, Alastair Heathcote, Matthew Langridge, Colin Smith, Acer Nethercott   United States Beau Hoopman, Matt Schnobrich, Micah Boyd, Wyatt Allen, Dan Walsh, Steven Coppola, Josh Inman, Brian Volpenhein, Marcus McElhenney

Rowing at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Single sculls		men		women
Coxless pair		men		women
Double sculls		men		women
Lwt double sculls		men		women
Coxless four		men
Quadruple sculls		men		women
Eight		men		women
Lwt coxless four		men

The men's eight (M8+) competition at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing was held from August 11 to August 17 at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park. Seven of nine national teams returned from the men's eight competition at the 2004 Summer Olympics to compete again, joined by the host nation.

The 2008 Summer Olympics M8+ rowing competition consisted of eight teams, split into two four-team heats. Each team fielded a boat crewed by eight rowers and a coxswain. Each rower used a single oar, with four oars on each side of the boat. The winner of each heat qualified for the "Final A" (or Medal) round. The remaining six teams competed in the Repechage round, with the top four from that round qualifying for the "Final A" round. The last two teams in the repechage competed in the "Final B" round.

The final ranking for rowing at the 2008 Summer Olympics was based on the order of finish in the two finals. The top three of the "Final A" teams earned Olympic medals for placing first, second, and third, while the remaining "Final A" teams placed fourth through sixth, according to their "Final A" finish. The "Final B" competition determined who places seventh and eight in the event's final ranking.

Schedule

All times are China Standard Time (UTC+8)

Medalists

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Canada (CAN) Kevin Light Ben Rutledge Andrew Byrnes Jake Wetzel Malcolm Howard Dominic Seiterle Adam Kreek Kyle Hamilton Brian Price	Great Britain (GBR) Alex Partridge Tom Stallard Tom Lucy Richard Egington Josh West Alastair Heathcote Matthew Langridge Colin Smith Acer Nethercott	United States (USA) Beau Hoopman Matt Schnobrich Micah Boyd Wyatt Allen Dan Walsh Steven Coppola Josh Inman Brian Volpenhein Marcus McElhenney

Preliminary competitions

Heats

Qualification Rules: 1->FA, 2..->R

Heat 1

Rank	Rowers	Country	Time	Notes
1	Light, Rutledge, Byrnes, Wetzel, Howard, Seiterle, Kreek, Hamilton, Price	Canada	5:27.69	FA
2	Kosiorek, Stawowski, P. Brzeziński, Kruszkowski, Hejmej, M. Brzeziński, Gutorski, Burda, Trojanowski	Poland	5:34.95	R
3	Siegelaar, Blink, Klem, Klaassen, Kuiper, Steenman, van Andel, Simon, Wiersum	Netherlands	5:40.43	R
4	Dennis, Loch, Chapman, Laurich, Stevenson, Tomkins, Conrad, Stewart, Rabjohns	Australia	6:55.59	R

Heat 2

Rank	Rowers	Country	Time	Notes
1	Partridge, Stallard, Lucy, Egington, West, Heathcote, Langridge, Smith, Nethercott	Great Britain	5:25.89	FA
2	Hoopman, Schnobrich, Boyd, Allen, Walsh, Coppola, Inman, Volpenhein, McElhenney	United States	5:29.60	R
3	Qu, J. Wang, Liu, He, Zheng, Zhou, Y. Zhang, X. Wang, D. Zhang	China	5:35.09	R
4	Eichner, Schmidt, Flach, Naruhn, Urban, Mennigen, Wilke, Penkner, Thiede	Germany	5:37.56	R

Repechage

Qualification Rules: 1-4->FA, 5..->FB

Rank	Rowers	Country	Time	Notes
1	Hoopman, Schnobrich, Boyd, Allen, Walsh, Coppola, Inman, Volpenhein, McElhenney	United States	5:38.95	FA
2	Lubbers, Blink, Klem, Klaassen, Kuiper, Steenman, van Andel, Simon, Wiersum	Netherlands	5:40.31	FA
3	Dennis, Loch, Chapman, Laurich, Stevenson, Tomkins, Conrad, Stewart, Rabjohns	Australia	5:42.62	FA
4	Kosiorek, Stawowski, P. Brzeziński, Kruszkowski, Hejmej, M. Brzeziński, Gutorski, Burda, Trojanowski	Poland	5:42.92	FA
5	Qu, J. Wang, Liu, He, Zheng, Zhou, Y. Zhang, X. Wang, D. Zhang	China	5:42.97	FB
6	Eichner, Schmidt, Flach, Naruhn, Urban, Mennigen, Wilke, Penkner, Thiede	Germany	5:47.05	FB

Results

The winners of the heats, Canada and Great Britain, took the gold and silver medals; the winner of the repechage, United States, took the bronze.

Canada's Olympic M8+ rowing championship followed their 2007 World M8+ Rowing Championship, making the Canadian crew the first world champion in 35 years to follow up with Olympic gold.^[1] Canada finished in 5:23.89, about four seconds off the world record time of 5:19.85 set by the U.S. team during the second heat of the Men's eight at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.^[2]

Final A

Rank	Rowers	Country	Time	Notes
	Light, Rutledge, Byrnes, Wetzel, Howard, Seiterle, Kreek, Hamilton, Price	Canada	5:23.89
	Partridge, Stallard, Lucy, Egington, West, Heathcote, Langridge, Smith, Nethercott	Great Britain	5:25.11
	Hoopman, Schnobrich, Boyd, Allen, Walsh, Coppola, Inman, Volpenhein, McElhenney	United States	5:25.34
4	Siegelaar, Blink, Klem, Klaassen, Kuiper, Steenman, van Andel, Simon, Wiersum	Netherlands	5:29.26
5	Kosiorek, Stawowski, P. Brzeziński, Kruszkowski, Hejmej, M. Brzeziński, Gutorski, Burda, Trojanowski	Poland	5:31.42
6	Dennis, Loch, Chapman, Laurich, Stevenson, Tomkins, Conrad, Stewart, Rabjohns	Australia	5:35.10

Final B

Rank	Rowers	Country	Time	Notes
7	Qu, J. Wang, Liu, He, Zheng, Zhou, Y. Zhang, X. Wang, D. Zhang	China	5:34.59
8	Eichner, Schmidt, Flach, Naruhn, Urban, Mennigen, Wilke, Penkner, Thiede	Germany	5:36.89

References

1. ↑ Canada wins men's 8 rowing, an August 17, 2008 Associated Press article via the International Herald Tribune
2. ↑ Results Men's Eight Final A from the official website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games